The present invention is directed to integrated circuits and their processing for the manufacture of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the invention provides a method and system for processing commonality of the manufacture of integrated circuits. Merely by way of example, the invention has been applied to certain quality characteristics for the manufacture of integrated circuits. But it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability.
Integrated circuits or “ICs” have evolved from a handful of interconnected devices fabricated on a single chip of silicon to millions of devices. Current ICs provide performance and complexity far beyond what was originally imagined. In order to achieve improvements in complexity and circuit density (i.e., the number of devices capable of being packed onto a given chip area), the size of the smallest device feature, also known as the device “geometry”, has become smaller with each generation of ICs. Semiconductor devices are now being fabricated with features less than a quarter of a micron across.
Increasing circuit density has not only improved the complexity and performance of ICs but has also provided lower cost parts to the consumer. An IC fabrication facility can cost hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars. Each fabrication facility will have a certain throughput of wafers, and each wafer will have a certain number of ICs on it. Therefore, by making the individual devices of an IC smaller, more devices may be fabricated on each wafer, thus increasing the output of the fabrication facility. Making devices smaller is very challenging, as each process used in IC fabrication has a limit. That is to say, a given process typically only works down to a certain feature size, and then either the process or the device layout needs to be changed. An example of such a limit is processing commonality between different production lines or different production sites.
Fabrication of custom integrated circuits using chip foundry services has evolved over the years. Fabless chip companies often design the custom integrated circuits. Such custom integrated circuits require a set of custom masks commonly called “reticles” to be manufactured. A chip foundry company called Semiconductor International Manufacturing Company (SMIC) of Shanghai, China is an example of a chip company that performs foundry services. Although fabless chip companies and foundry services have increased through the years, many limitations still exist. For example, a chip company usually utilizes several separate manufacturing sites. To flexibly use the capacity at each site, the company may distribute a single large order to several sites which may simultaneously manufacture the same kind of product. Additionally, to avoid any supply discontinuity caused by an unexpected accident in a manufacturing process, customers may request their products being qualified and manufactured on several lines or at several sites. If one site experiences certain problems, the loading can be immediately moved to other sites. Therefore the risk to the customers in supply lines is significantly reduced. Although the various production sites are usually built at different periods of time, and the tools equipped may be different from each other, the final products from different sites should bear similar quality and functionality. These and other limitations are described throughout the present specification and more particularly below.
From the above, it is seen that an improved technique for processing semiconductor devices is desired.